Editorial Criteria
Information regarding editions consulted, and the treatment of issues relating to spelling, accentuation and punctuation can be accessed by clicking on the links below (or in the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the page):
In addition, the following general principles have been observed:
Division into Scenes
In order both to facilitate navigation and to aid performance practitioners, the play has been divided into scenes, which are indicated within the text in square brackets, except in the '1st edition' view.
Display of Verse
In order to make the verse form clearer, the practice of abbreviating character names and embedding them within the text, which may be observed in the first edition of 1615, has been followed, but with the names rendered in bold for ease of viewing. Shared lines are, accordingly, not split, as is usually the case in modern printed editions. Stanzas are separated by a space, again with a view to highlighting the verse form.
Damaged or Missing Text
Where text has been added because the source text (All Souls nn. 7.3) is damaged (see for example l. 1762 and fol. 183r), or because type is missing (see l. 521 and fol. 172v), this is indicated in square brackets, in all edited views ('1st edition', 'ed. O’Neill' and 'unpunctuated').
Errors in the Source Text (All Souls nn. 7.3)
Typographical errors and errors in the cast list or in the names of speakers are not corrected in the '1st edition' view. In the other views they are corrected and placed within square brackets (see for example ll. 2040 and 2820).
Supplied Text
Text supplied because it is missing in error, for example the exit of Don Silvestre and Clavijo at the end of Act III Scene 5, is not added to the '1st edition' view, but added to the other views in square brackets, often with an explanatory note. Additional stage directions that were found to be helpful for the actors in the preparation of the staged reading at King’s College London in May 2007, for example asides, or indications of to whom a speech is addressed, are indicated in the 'ed. O’Neill' view in square brackets, but not in the other views. In those instances where the source text does not indicate the names of the characters in exits and and entrances (for example 'Éntranse' at the end of Act I Scene 3), these have been added, in square brackets, to the 'ed. O’Neill' view (thus, in the preceding example, 'Éntranse [Cardenio y Torrente]'), but not to the other views. That decision was taken in order to make it easier to track the movements of characters (using the 'Track Character' menu).
Notes
Reflecting the multidimensional approach to the text that has been adopted in this research project, the notes touch on lexical, contextual, bibliographical, performative and translational issues. Regarding notes that are purely lexical, the criterion has been to include these in cases where either the word is not listed in a comprehensive bilingual dictionary, or where the shade of meaning differs from the modern, generally accepted one. The criterion for selection of notes for the English translation has been to clarify the text for performance practitioners with little or no knowledge of Spanish. As a result, the translation is considerably less annotated than the Spanish.